


The Last Shot

by CelticPhoenixProductions, Frogdays



Category: RWBY
Genre: Character Death, Character Study, Fall of Beacon, Gen, Team BRNZ - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:53:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28000446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticPhoenixProductions/pseuds/CelticPhoenixProductions, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frogdays/pseuds/Frogdays
Summary: May could do this, she could do this!
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	The Last Shot

**Author's Note:**

> This was a story done on stream (available here https://youtu.be/FhCXd3N-0LI) to demonstrate my colleague's writing process. It was a prompt where we considered BRNZ 'civilians' during the Fall of Beacon.

“May, get your sorry ass down from there!”

Damnit, damnit, damnit, how do people make this look so easy?

May sucks in a breath and tries to steady her hands. Her sights keep wobbling and they just won’t _stop_ , she just needs them to stop. She pulls the trigger and it grazes a Creep in the shoulder, halting its crawl but only for a brief moment. It shudders off the attack and charges into one of the festival stalls. There’s screaming.

“ _May!_ ”

“Just a second!”

“We don’t _have_ a second!”

May wishes she did. Back at the range, with all the time in the world. Time to breathe, to drink some water, to chat with Nebula through bulky headphones. 

She takes another shot, a Boarbatusk. A miss. _No!_

Another shot. Another. The third one hits, right through the eye. 

“Nolan, I can do this! Trust me!”

Electricity reverberates through the air. A different Boarbatusk falls to the ground, stunned by Nolan’s baton. 

They can do this. _She_ can do this. May smacks herself on the cheek, refocusing. 

“May, listen to Nolan, we need to get the hell out of here!” Roy’s voice is hoarse and hard to hear over the saws on his wrists.

She lines up the next shot and pulls the trigger. A dry click. Shit! A jam? Pulling the bolt back, she checks the chamber. No, no, an empty mag. She lost count. Cursing into her hood, she pulled at her pockets for another box.

“Goddamnit, May, get dow-!”

A rush of wind, louder than any she’d heard before, deafened the words. A vacuum ensues followed only by the beating of wings and Roy’s horrified screams. May’s hand locks in place and she looks to where Roy had been standing, finding it vacant. Her eyes flew to the grotesque bird cutting through Beacon’s skies, a wriggling green form in its talons.

“Roy!” May croaked.

May scrambles to reload. The nevermore is still close, just one good shot could give Roy a chance. Mag in, hear the click, ready. 

Miss. It’s okay, it’s still in range. Brawnz and Nolan are running after it. They can defeat a Nevermore, if it just came down. One more shot.

“May! We need to follow that thing!”

_“I can do this!_ ” 

The Nevermore swerves. Miss. But it’s flying back towards May’s direction. Closer, closer still.

_Bang!_

A hit! It’s falling! 

...No, no, it’s diving, _it’s diving_.

There’s only a moment of breath before Brawnz is consumed by the Nevermore’s shadow. Even over the sounds of combat she can hear the sickening crunch as the bird burst into a cloud of black smoke.

Nolan stops running, his feet trailing to an end and his hands flying to his hairline. She can’t hear his voice. She could hear the squelch but not his voice.

May feels sick.

Hands shaking, she stows her rifle and drops from her perch, the bark tearing at her pants.

“N-Nolan! I’m… We… we need to get out of here!” May blathered, sprinting towards her friends… _friend_.

Leave. Leave. That’s all she can think, reaching out to Nolan’s shoulder.

Wait, why does her arm hurt?

Her footing slips away and fire explodes along her ribs as she’s tossed into the nearest wall. Light flickers around her before shattering into a million luminescent motes, leaving her skin cold.

Was… was her aura always that weak?

May looks up to the figure above her, a Beowulf with it’s pointed snout and bared fangs.

Oh. An alpha. That adds up.

Where’s Nolan?

She looks behind the alpha and finds Nolan besieged by the rest of the pack. Their eyes only meet once before he’s blocked out by the piled of blackened bodies.

Well, guess that means she needs to save herself. She reaches for the rifle on her back… only her arm wouldn’t move. Broken? Ah, that’s why it hurts.

Those lifeless eyes stare down at her, red burrowing into her skull.

A drip of sweat falls down her chin. Of course it was sweat, what else could it be? She was just nervous, she wasn’t scared.

Afterall, she could do this.

The Beowulf lunged.


End file.
